Scottish Executive

Airports

David Mundell (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive when the study into the Glasgow and Edinburgh airport rail links will be completed given that Strathclyde Passenger Transport has announced it is beginning plans for the introduction of a rail link between Glasgow city centre and Glasgow airport.

Lewis Macdonald: The consultants’ final report is expected in the autumn.

Domestic Abuse

Mr Gil Paterson (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive when the NHS’s guidance on domestic abuse will be published.

Malcolm Chisholm: A Short Life Working Group has prepared draft guidance for health care workers on responding to domestic abuse. This guidance will be published for wide consultation in June 2002 after submission to the National Group to Address Domestic Abuse in Scotland at their next meeting on 14 May.

European Union

Colin Campbell (West of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to my question S1W-24790 lodged on 5 April 2002 in regard to the establishment of a convention on the future of Europe similar to that established by Catalonia, whether it is aware of the announcement on 8 April 2002 by Ministers of the Office of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister of the Northern Ireland Executive of the intention to host a conference focusing on the debate on the future of Europe and whether it will therefore revisit its response to the European Committee's 9th Report 2001 Report on the Governance of the European Union and the Future of Europe: What Role for Scotland?  which called for such a forum to be held in Scotland.

Mr Jim Wallace: I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-24790 on 3 May 2002.

Genetically Modified Crops

Dr Winnie Ewing (Highlands and Islands) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what subsidies are available to farmers who grow genetically modified crops, what levels of subsidy are payable; by whom and what conditions are attached to each subsidy.

Ross Finnie: Farmers in Scotland are not entitled to any subsidies specifically for the purpose of growing a GM crop. Such farmers are, however, entitled to the same subsidies under the normal conditions as other arable farmers.

Health

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will make infliximab available throughout Scotland to arthritis sufferers in line with the practice of the National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE) in England and Wales.

Malcolm Chisholm: Infliximab is available on NHS prescription and its use depends on the clinical judgement of specialists experienced in the management of rheumatoid arthritis.

  The Health Technology Board for Scotland will look at the NICE guidance on the use of the anti-TNF drugs, infliximab and etanercept, to see if there are any important differences that would impact on the implementation of the NICE guidance in Scotland.

  In the meantime, Scottish clinicians should use all available evidence, including the NICE guidance, to guide their clinical decisions.

Health

Mr David Davidson (North-East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive why it requires experienced chiropodists who are not state registered to become state registered.

Malcolm Chisholm: The Health Professions Council (HPC) is a new, UK wide, regulatory body which formally came into being on 1 April 2002 replacing the Council for Professions Supplementary to Medicine (CPSM). The HPC is an independent body whose purpose is to promote and safeguard the health and well-being of people and patients using the services of a number of Allied Health Professionals, including chiropody.

  All Allied Health Professionals must be registered with the HPC in order to practise. The HPC will maintain a register of properly qualified members of the Allied Health Professions and will have power to require registrants to demonstrate their continuing competence.

Health

Mr David Davidson (North-East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has for the provision of conversion courses to enable non-state registered chiropodists to become state registered.

Malcolm Chisholm: The Health Professions Council will put in place special transitional arrangements for those who have been practising as chiropodists but who have never been registered with the Council for Professions Supplementary to Medicine. The transitional pathway to registration will be open to those who can demonstrate that they have been practising safely and effectively for a sustained period and that their qualifications and experience are comparable to the current requirements for registration.

Health

Mr David Davidson (North-East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what financial support it will give to non-state registered chiropodists to become state registered.

Malcolm Chisholm: Financial support is not available from the Scottish Executive.

Health

Mr David Davidson (North-East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what recognition it will give to examinations already passed and to practice experience obtained by non-state registered chiropodists if they are required to become state registered in order to continue to practise.

Malcolm Chisholm: The Health Professions Council (HPC), will put in place transitional arrangements for those who have been practising as chiropodists but who have never been registered with the Council for Professions Supplementary to Medicine (CPSM). The transitional pathway to registration is open to those chiropodists who can demonstrate that they have been practising safely and effectively for a sustained period or that their qualifications and experience are comparable to the current requirements for registration. In either case the HPC may, but need not, require them to pass a test of competence.

Health

Mr David Davidson (North-East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many non-state registered chiropodists there are in Scotland and what percentage of all chiropodists are non-state registered.

Malcolm Chisholm: The information requested is not held centrally.

Health

Mr David Davidson (North-East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many chiropodists there are in each NHS board area, both registered and non-state registered.

Malcolm Chisholm: Information on the number and whole-time equivalent of chiropodists in each NHS board area is shown in the following table. Information on the number of chiropodists who are state registered and non-state registered is not held centrally.

  Chiropodists1 Directly Employed by NHSScotland Headcount and WTE at 30 September 2000

  

 

Headcount 
  

WTE 
  



Scotland 
  

741 
  

634.7 
  



Argyll and Clyde NHS Board 
  

58 
  

53 
  



Ayrshire and Arran NHS Board 
  

75 
  

64.1 
  



Borders NHS Board 
  

17 
  

15.7 
  



Dumfries and Galloway NHS Board 
  

25 
  

20.9 
  



Fife NHS Board 
  

60 
  

47.3 
  



Forth Valley NHS Board 
  

32 
  

29.5 
  



Grampian NHS Board 
  

69 
  

55.4 
  



NHS Glasgow 
  

126 
  

107.4 
  



Highland NHS Board 
  

25 
  

22.5 
  



Lanarkshire NHS Board 
  

77 
  

69.5 
  



Lothian NHS Board 
  

105 
  

88.4 
  



Shetland NHS Board 
  

4 
  

4 
  



Tayside NHS Board 
  

61 
  

50.4 
  



Western Isles NHS Board 
  

7 
  

6.6 
  



  Source: National Manpower Statistics from Payroll, ISD Scotland.

  Note:

  1. Comprises qualified staff only.

Health

Dorothy-Grace Elder (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what assessments have been conducted into the services required to assist chronic pain sufferers.

Malcolm Chisholm: It is for health boards and trusts to assess the health care needs of residents in their areas, and to arrange provision of the treatment indicated on the basis of clinical advice.

Health

Dorothy-Grace Elder (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what range of services are currently available in each NHS board area to assist chronic pain sufferers and whether these services offer (a) multi-disciplinary and (b) in-patient services and (c) meet the needs of carers.

Malcolm Chisholm: I refer to the information sent to the Public Petitions Committee on 29 August 2001, which indicated, by health board area, the location of pain management clinics and the range of services provided. I am not aware of any significant change since this information was produced. No specific information is available on how services for chronic pain sufferers address the needs of carers.

Health

Dorothy-Grace Elder (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what assessments have been conducted into the current provision of services for chronic pain sufferers outside hospital settings.

Malcolm Chisholm: I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-25335.

Health

Mr Adam Ingram (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what counselling services are offered by the Breathing Space helpline.

Malcolm Chisholm: The Breathing Space helpline provides confidential advice and support, as well as suggestions of services which callers may find useful in their own locality. The helpline operators have access to an extensive database of statutory and voluntary services, which is updated regularly so that, where necessary, callers can be referred to agencies and organisations best suited to their particular needs. Breathing Space does not provide counselling services, but some of the wide range of bodies, to which callers can be referred, do provide counselling.

Health

Mr Adam Ingram (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the purpose is of the Breathing Space helpline.

Malcolm Chisholm: Breathing Space is a free helpline service for people living with low mood or depression or who are unusually worried. Deputy Minister Mary Mulligan wrote to the member on 17 April, giving further information about the helpline.

Hospitals

Mr Brian Monteith (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many patients at Stirling Royal Infirmary, whose discharge had been delayed, were there on (a) 31 March to 1 April 2002 and (b) 4 to 5 April 2002.

Malcolm Chisholm: The information requested is not held centrally.

Hospitals

Mr Brian Monteith (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what arrangements (a) Stirling Royal Infirmary and (b) Falkirk and District Royal Infirmary have in place for occasions when they are unable to accept admissions.

Malcolm Chisholm: When either hospital is unable to accept admissions, the first arrangement is to accommodate patients on the other’s site.

  There is a reciprocal arrangement with other health board areas if, for any reason, this is not possible.

Housing

Dorothy-Grace Elder (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the arrangements will be for HM Treasury writing off Glasgow City Council’s Housing debt and when this debt would be written off.

Ms Margaret Curran: The arrangements for dealing with local authorities' residual housing debt following a whole stock transfer were set out in the answer given to question S1W-18180 on 28 September 2001.

Justice

Mr Gil Paterson (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive when it expects the implementation group on the report of the Lord Advocate’s Working Group on Child Witness Support to publish its findings.

Mr Jim Wallace: The group was set up to implement the recommendations in the Lord Advocate’s working group’s report. It has set up three sub-groups examining, respectively, support for child witnesses through the investigative and criminal justice processes, the pre-trial gathering of evidence from child witnesses, and the development of guidance on the questioning of child witnesses in court. Our recently published consultation paper on vulnerable witnesses will be very relevant to the work of the last of these sub-groups. Each sub-group is working to a particular timetable and will consult as required on its developing conclusions.

  Overall, the work of the implementation group should be completed early in 2003 and we will provide a further report to the Parliament at that stage.

Justice

Dorothy-Grace Elder (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to review the effectiveness and implementation of sections 51 and 52 of the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 on the display of obscene material and indecent photographs etc. of children.

Mr Jim Wallace: The Scottish Executive has no plans to review sections 51 and 52 of the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982. We have not received any indication from either the police or Crown Office that the current legislation is causing difficulties. However, the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Bill will increase the maximum penalties available to the courts to 10 years for taking and distributing indecent images of children and to five years for possession, which are both offences under the 1982 act.

Prison Service

Stewart Stevenson (Banff and Buchan) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-24664 by Mr Jim Wallace on 12 April 2002, what systems and processes are operated by the Scottish Prison Service to ensure that all enforceable conditions of the Minute of Agreement between the Secretary of State for Scotland and Kilmarnock Prison Services Limited for the Design, Construction, Management and Financing of a Prison at Kilmarnock are actually met and when the last review was undertaken to ensure that Kilmarnock Prison Services Limited (KPSL) and all servants, agents and sub-contractors of KPSL (a) do not unlawfully discriminate within Scotland, (b) apply similar standards of operation elsewhere and (c) have codes of practice relating to the prevention of discrimination in line with section 56 of the agreement.

Mr Jim Wallace: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) to respond. His response is as follows:

  The SPS controller monitors compliance with the contract on a day to day basis.

Prison Service

Michael Matheson (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-24351 by Mr Jim Wallace on 22 April 2002, what the cost was to the Scottish Prison Service of (a) the Assisted Prison Visit Scheme, (b) additional transitional care service and (c) prisoners’ discharge grants at HM Prison Kilmarnock in (i) 1999-2000, (ii) 2000-01 and (iii) 2001-02.

Mr Jim Wallace: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) to respond. His response is as follows:

  The Assisted Prison Visit Scheme cost is charged to SPS by the Home Office without identification of the costs for individual prisons. Transitional care charges are based on the region into which the prisoner is released rather than the prison from which the prisoner has been released. The cost of discharge grants was as follows:

  


1999-2000 
  

£25,865 
  



2000-01 
  

£42,716 
  



2001-02 (to date) 
  

£38,710

Prison Service

Michael Matheson (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-24351 by Mr Jim Wallace on 22 April 2002, what the cost was to the Scottish Prison Service of the controller’s function at HM Prison Kilmarnock in 2001-02.

Mr Jim Wallace: I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:

  The cost of the controller’s function at HM Prison Kilmarnock in 2001-02 was £142,000.

Scottish Executive Publications

Mr Keith Harding (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what the full costs were in publishing, printing and distributing Enforcement of Civil Obligations in Scotland: A Consultation Document .

Mr Jim Wallace: The estimated total costs to date are £6,560.

Tartan Day

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what assessment it has made of the impact of Tartan Day on visitor numbers to Scotland.

Mike Watson: I have asked VisitScotland to undertake an analysis of the impact of Tartan Day on tourism to Scotland.

Tourism

Mr David Davidson (North-East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many consultation meetings it has had with regard to the future structure and funding of area tourist boards, broken down by area tourist board.

Mike Watson: None. But I have met with representatives of most of the boards to discuss matters of general interest.

Tourism

Mr David Davidson (North-East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it plans to continue to provide core funding for area tourist boards through local authorities.

Mike Watson: I will be announcing shortly how I intend to take forward the review of the area tourist boards network and the issues that will be considered.

Tourism

Mr David Davidson (North-East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how much funding for special projects by area tourist boards has not been drawn down because of the inability of local authorities and VisitScotland to provide matched funding.

Mike Watson: The information requested is not held centrally.

Tourism

Mr David Davidson (North-East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will detail, in real terms, the core funding provided for each of the last five years for each area tourist board.

Mike Watson: The Scottish Executive does not core fund area tourist boards. Details of VisitScotland grants to each area tourist board (excluding special funding for the JVP and foot-and-mouth disease) is provided in the following table:

  VisitScotland Grants to Area Tourist Boards in 2001 Prices

  


 

 1997-98 
At 2001 Prices 
 1998-99 
At 2001 Prices
 1999-2000 
At 2001 Prices 
 2000-01 
At 2001 Prices 
 2001-02 
At 2001 Prices 


 Aberdeen and Grampian 
  

320,380 


309,758 


305,080 


295,367 


290,000 



 Angus and Dundee 
  

146,933 


142,061 


139,916 


135,462 


133,000 



 Argyle, the Isles, 
Loch Lomond, Stirling and the Trossachs 

591,047 


571,450 


562,820 


544,902 


535,000 



 Ayrshire and Arran 
  

234,209 


226,444 


223,024 


215,924 


212,000 



 Dumfries and Galloway 
  

164,609 


159,151 


156,748 


151,178 


149,000 



 Edinburgh and Lothians 
  

424,228 


410,162 


403,968 


391,107 


384,000 



 Greater Glasgow and 
Clyde Valley 

323,695 


312,962 


308,236 


298,423 


293,000 



 Highlands 

824,151 


796,825 


784,792 


759,807 


746,000 



 Kingdom of Fife 

152,457 


147,402 


145,176 


140,554 


138,000 



 Perthshire 

197,752 


191,195 


188,308 


182,313 


179,000 



 Scottish Borders 
  

164,609 


159,151 


156,748 


151,758 


149,000 



 Orkney 

98,876 


95,704 


94,259 


91,258 


89,600 



 Shetland 

96,114 


92,393 


90,998 


88,101 


86,500 



 Western Islands 

120,971 


116,960 


115,194 


111,527 


109,500 



 Total ATB grant-in-aid 
  

3,860,031 


3,731,619 


3,675,267 


3,558,258 


3,493,600

Tourism

Mr David Davidson (North-East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to remove the discretionary local authority grant system for area tourist boards and either replace it with a statutory grant scheme or fund the boards directly itself.

Mike Watson: I will be announcing shortly how I intend to take forward the review of the area tourist boards network and the issues that will be considered.

Young People

Irene Oldfather (Cunninghame South) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what measures it has taken to ensure that the views of the young people of Scotland are represented on the European Youth Convention on the Future of Europe.

Irene Oldfather (Cunninghame South) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has had any discussions with Her Majesty’s Government regarding the nomination of a young Scot to the European Youth Convention on the Future of Europe.

Cathy Jamieson: I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-24633 on 23 April 2002. I also wrote to the Minister for Europe, Peter Hain, on 23 April seeking close working arrangements between the UK government and the devolved administrations on the matter of representation. The Deputy Minister for Finance and Public Service was also able to raise the matter with Mr Hain in London on 25 April.